Le Mans 24 hours 2010

[vyselegend]

Are you sure about Strakka running the ARX-01B? It's listed as C and read in the news before that its the new version.

I may have been confused between several publications of the entry list. The list I posted is from planetlemans (who just posted their analysis for the LMP1 class. Worth reading). While the list I watched first was from endurance-series. This one stipulate the Strakka car is the 01B. Other sources (official le mans website,endurance-info) don't mention the specification for that car.

So it's hard to tell, but now I think more about it I find it strange because the c-spec is basically the adaptation to the 2010 IMSA rules allowing LMP2s to be as competitive as LMP1s, which isn't the case in Le Mans (Sebring and PLM also run under ACO rules). So the ACO legal version is the 01B, unless the C designation refers globally to the new chassis, whatever restrictors / ballast level they run with...

Did you remark Pescarollo sport line up (Ho-Pin Tung/Jan Charouz) is the Renault F1 test driver line up?
Now that's another opportunity to speculate on the involvement of new manufacturers in LM racing! It can't be a coincidence. There have to be a contract between Renault and Pesca. And now that Peugeot turned their back to Henri and choose Oreca as their partner for their futures engines, is it possible that Henri made a deal with their major opponent, Renault?

I don't think any TV channel is going to show the whole 24 hours

Ok, I officially envy you, because you probably see it live (I plan it also, eventually...), but Eurosport has been transmitting the full 24 hours live for the last 2 years and I believe they will do it again this year. No idea concerning the US, though...

Yep sir, I'm going as usual. And you're going to get very jealous I fear, since I've also booked for the 8 hours of Paul Ricard in april! The entry list is basically the same without the works Pugs, it sould be very good!
Shame I can't go to 1000km of Spa though...

[dumrick]

Did you remark Pescarollo sport line up (Ho-Pin Tung/Jan Charouz) is the Renault F1 test driver line up?
Now that's another opportunity to speculate on the involvement of new manufacturers in LM racing! It can't be a coincidence. There have to be a contract between Renault and Pesca. And now that Peugeot turned their back to Henri and choose Oreca as their partner for their futures engines, is it possible that Henri made a deal with their major opponent, Renault?

That could be a bit of wishful thinking.

In the now long tradition of having team principals with possible conflicting interests with the team, Renault's F1 new boss needs to wear some different hats. Those drivers are with Renault because they are managed by Gravity, a society that... gravitates somewhere in the Genii Capital universe and whose boss is called... Eric Boullier.

So, it is now virtually impossible to tell the difference between the interests of Renault F1, M. Boullier or Genii. Pescarolo could have made ties with any of these entities, for all we know. What is kind of sad is that Pescarolo usually has a quite strong french driver lineup and now they seem to be stuck with... those...

If that's what the survival of Pescarolo Sport takes, however...

And you're going to get very jealous I fear, since I've also booked for the 8 hours of Paul Ricard in april!

You're right, I am even more jealous. This year is turning to look quite good for endurance.

[RacingManiac]

BTW, AFAIK the LMP1 Acura is not dead, just may not be "Acura" anymore. Wirth Engineering is still working on a 2011 car(aside from their F1 obligation with Virgin).

[Pandamasque]

2010 testing photos


PS: we should have a single LMS/ALMS/LM24 2010 thread, don't you think?

[vyselegend]

That could be a bit of wishful thinking.

In the now long tradition of having team principals with possible conflicting interests with the team, Renault's F1 new boss needs to wear some different hats. Those drivers are with Renault because they are managed by Gravity, a society that... gravitates somewhere in the Genii Capital universe and whose boss is called... Eric Boullier.

So, it is now virtually impossible to tell the difference between the interests of Renault F1, M. Boullier or Genii. Pescarolo could have made ties with any of these entities, for all we know. What is kind of sad is that Pescarolo usually has a quite strong french driver lineup and now they seem to be stuck with... those...

If that's what the survival of Pescarolo Sport takes, however...

You're hard! Ho Ping Tung hasn't exactly proved himself in endurance for sure, but Jan Charouz has been one of the most reliable P1 drivers of the last years IMO. His achievments along Stephan mucke are quite respectable! And the main driver will be Christophe Tinseau. So I'd say it's a reasonable line-up, let's hope Tung will be ok.

And the idea of a Renault powered Pescarollo isn't unpleasing. Imagine the current Renault 3.4 V8 in a proto. Do you think it could last the 24 hours, at 10 000 rpm or so? (I guess not)

BTW, AFAIK the LMP1 Acura is not dead, just may not be "Acura" anymore. Wirth Engineering is still working on a 2011 car(aside from their F1 obligation with Virgin).

After the Brawn GP lesson, I'd be astonished if Honda takes again the decision to ditch a promising program just when all the efforts will pay finally!

The ARX 02 a was a very solid basis, suffering from the lack of power of an anemic atmospheric V8... Oreca was sensibly at the same pace at PLM, and I don't think the Oreca 01 chassis could really rivalise with the high-DF Acura package. It was all down to the AIM engine being more powerfull IMO.

But whatever happens, I'd be happy to see that car racing again. Nick Wirth has been evokating a Le Mans package of the ARX 02 a for ages. I just can't die before I've seen it...

PS: we should have a single LMS/ALMS/LM24 2010 thread, don't you think?

Agreed. Let's start a global thread for endurances cars and races of 2010 as soon as there something substential to post. But IMO Sebring and PLM (and maybe Paul Ricard 8h as well) deserves their own thread too?...

[Belatti]

I don't think any TV channel is going to show the whole 24 hours

Ok, I officially envy you, because you probably see it live (I plan it also, eventually...), but Eurosport has been transmitting the full 24 hours live for the last 2 years and I believe they will do it again this year. No idea concerning the US, though...

At least you have got that. Down here, nothing...

Does someone knows how to follow the race live?

[roost89]

I don't think any TV channel is going to show the whole 24 hours

Ok, I officially envy you, because you probably see it live (I plan it also, eventually...), but Eurosport has been transmitting the full 24 hours live for the last 2 years and I believe they will do it again this year. No idea concerning the US, though...

At least you have got that. Down here, nothing...

Does someone knows how to follow the race live?

Apart from RadioLeMans, no idea at all. Eurosport.com may have a feed in their online video-player. Although it may cost.

[vyselegend]

Very bad news:

Dome has withdrawn it's Le Mans entry.

endurance info article (google traduction)

As it was the only planned race for the S102 this year, and considering it'll be illegal next year (as every current LMP1s), we have to face the hard reallity that we won't see it again... I can't believe that pure piece of art, which did cost so much money and work over more than 4 years will leave after having only met the racetrack once!



At least I could proudly say to my kids in a decade "Dad was there the only time that rare beast appeared in a race"... sigh.



Only positive point is that Hiroshi Yuchi say they "think to Le Mans 2011". But after seing them unable to race for several years with an existing, proven and competitive racecar, it's hard to believe they'll race an hypotetic new car next year...

[dumrick]

That's very sad news, indeed. On the 2008 24 hours it was clear that the S102 had a lot of potential, but was still too fresh.

Such a beautiful car too, that would somehow help heal our sore eyes from looking at Audi's new livery...

[allanporsche]

Entry list has been unveiled today!

Great news is that AMR has decided to take the fight this year, despite their early announcement that they were steping out of 2010. That's an extremely pleasant surprise. Note that on top of that one of their car will be in Fernandez' hands in America for Sebring (at least), and another run by team Signature in LMS (full-time).

Very relieving to see two Pescarolo in P1 as well, because it seemed the team was done for good this winter. Curiously one of the car is entered under the banner of SORA composites while the other is an "official" Pescarolo sport entry.

Kolles has failed to sell one of their car apparently, as both are entered bor both LM and the LMS season.

That makes the big guns at least as numerous as last year with 3xAudi R15, 2xAudiR10, 4xPeugeot 908, 3xLola Aston-Martin, plus 2xPescarollo Judd, 1xOreca AIM, and very promising entries such as Rebellion's Lola Judd ...

Another very good news is the presence of Highcroft in La Sarthe! (Better late than never!) It will also be the first time for an Acura prototype for this side of the pound. Too bad however that it won't be the P1 car, which's program has seemingly been abandonned. Instead, Highcroft will run the ARX 01 c-spec from the ALMS, while Strakka wil have the ARX 01 in b-spec. (ex Fernandez car?)
Surprisingly another Acura engine complete the list in P2 in a Lola B08/80 ran by RML.

In GT1 we'll be blessed with the presence of two new Ford GT. Too bad there are still no Nissan GTR and no Maserati MC12 as well (it is considered ACO legal now, isn't it?)

GT2 grid is simply incredible! After last year's boring F430 vs a few 997 GT3 RSR, we have a great variety of car for 2010, with BMWs, Jaguar, Spykers, Astons and Corvettes in the fight!

Here's the full list.

Code: Select all

LM P1

1 // Team Peugeot Total // Peugeot 908 HDi FAP // Alexander Wurz - TBA - TBA
2 // Team Peugeot Total // Peugeot 908 HDi FAP // Nicolas Minassian - TBA - TBA
3 // Peugeot Sport Total // Peugeot 908 HDi FAP // Sebastien Bourdais - TBA - TBA
4 // Team Oreca Matmut // Peugeot 908 HDi FAP // Olivier Panis - Nicolas Lapierre - TBA
5 // Beechdean Mansell Motorsport // Ginetta-Zytek Z09R // Nigel Mansell - Greg Mansell - Leo Mansell
6 // AIM Team Oreca // Oreca 01 AIM // Soheil Ayari - TBA - TBA
7 // Audi Sport Team Joest // Audi R15 TDI // Tom Kristensen - TBA - TBA
8 // Audi Sport Team Joest // Audi R15 TDI // Andre Lotterer - TBA - TBA
9 //Audi Sport North America // Audi R15 TDI // Mike Rockenfeller - TBA - TBA
10 // Dome Racing Team // Dome S102 Judd // Sébastien Philippe - TBA - TBA
11 // Drayson Racing // Lola B09/60 Judd // Paul Drayson - Jonny Cocker - TBA
12 // Rebellion Racing // Lola B10/60 Rebellion // Nicolas Prost - Neel Jani - TBA
13 // Rebellion Racing // Lola B10/60 Rebellion // Andrea Belicchi - Jean-Christophe Boullion - TBA
14 // Kolles // Audi R10 TDI // Christijan Albers - TBA - TBA
15 // Kolles // Audi R10 TDI // Christian Bakkerud - TBA - TBA
17 // Pescarolo Sport // Pescarolo 01 Judd // Ho-Pin Tung - TBA - TBA
18 // SORA Racing // Pescarolo 01 Judd // Christophe Tinseau - TBA - TBA
19 // Autocon Motorsports // Lola B06/10 AER // Michael Lewis - TBA - TBA
007 // Aston Martin Racing // Lola Aston Martin // Harold Primat - TBA - TBA
008 // Signature Plus // Lola Aston Martin // Pierre Ragues - Franck Mailleux - TBA
009 // Aston Martin Racing // Lola Aston Martin // Darren Turner - TBA - TBA

LM P2

24 // OAK Racing // Pescarolo 01 Judd // Jacques Nicolet - TBA - TBA
25 // RML // Lola B08/80 HPD // Mike Newton - Tommy Erdos - TBA
26 // Highcroft Racing // HPD Acura ARX-01C // David Brabham - Marino Franchitti - TBA
29 // Racing Box // Lola B08/80 Judd // Luca Pirri - TBA - TBA
35 // OAK Racing // Pescarolo 01 Judd // Richard Hein - TBA - TBA
37 // Gerard Welter // WR Zytek // Philippe Salini - TBA - TBA
40 // Quifel-ASM Team // Ginetta Zytek 09S Zytek // Miguel Amaral - Olivier Pla - TBA
41 // Team Bruichladdich // Ginetta Zytek 09S Zytek // Karim Ojjeh - Tim Greaves - TBA
42 // Strakka Racing // HPD Acura ARX-01C // Nick Leventis - Danny Watts - TBA

RESERVE LMP
38 // Pegasus Racing // Norma Judd // Julien Schell - TBA - TBA
23 // Tokaï University YGK Power // Courage-Oreca LC70 YGK // Shigekazu Wakisaka - Shogo Mitsuyama - TBA
39 // KSM // Lola B08/47 Judd // Jean de Pourtales - Hideki Noda - TBA
28 // José Ibanez // Lola B05/40 Judd // José Ibanez - Lionel Robert - Arnaud Santamato
22 // Kaneko Racing // Courage-Oreca LC70 Judd // Yutaka Yamagishi - TBA - TBA

LM GT1

50 // Larbre Competition // Saleen S7R // Roland Berville - Patrick Bornhauser - TBA
52 // Young Driver AMR // Aston Martin DBR9 // Christoffer Nygaard - Tomas Enge - TBA
53 // Peka Racing NV // Chevrolet Corvette C6.R // Anthony Kumpen - TBA - TBA
61 // Matech Competition // Ford GT // Natacha Gachnang - Cyndie Allemann - TBA
69 // JLOC // Lamborghini Murcielago GT1 // Yogo Atsushi - TBA - TBA
70 // Marc VDS Racing // Ford GT // Eric de Doncker - TBA - TBA
72 // Luc Alphand Aventures // Chevrolet Corvette C6.R // Luc Alphand - TBA - TBA
73 // Luc Alphand Aventures // Chevrolet Corvette C6.R // Stéphane Gregoire - TBA - TBA

LM GT2

63 // Corvette Racing // Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 // Jan Magnussen - Johnny O’Connell - Antonio Garcia
64 // Corvette Racing // Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 // Oliver Gavin - Olivier Beretta - TBA
75 // ProSpeed Competition // Porsche 997 GT3 RSR // Paul van Splunteren - TBA - TBA
76 // IMSA Performance Matmut // Porsche 997 GT3 RSR // Raymond Narac - TBA -TBA
77 // Team Felbermayr-Proton // Porsche 997 GT3 RSR // Horst Felbermayr - TBA - TBA
78 // BMW Motorsport // BMW E92 M3 // Jörg Müller - TBA - TBA
79 // BMW Motorsport // BMW E92 M3 // Andy Priaulx - TBA - TBA
80 // Flying Lizard Motorsports // Porsche 997 GT3 RSR // Seth Neiman - TBA - TBA
81 // Jaguar RSR / Jaguar XKR GT2 // Paul Gentilozzi - Scott Pruett - Marc Goossens
82 // Risi Competizione // Ferrari F430 GT2 // Tracey Krohn - Nic Jonsson - TBA
83 // Risi Competizione // Ferrari F430 GT2 // Jaime Melo - TBA - TBA
84 // Modena Group Racing // Ferrari F430 GT2 // Roman Rusinov - TBA - TBA
85 // Spyker Squadron // Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R // Tim Coronel - TBA - TBA
89 // Hankook Team Farnbacher // Ferrari F430 GT2 // Dominik Farnbacher - Allan Simonsen - TBA
92 // JMW Motorsport // Aston Martin Vantage GT2 // Rob Bell - TBA - TBA
96 // AF Corse // Ferrari F430 GT2 // Luis Perez Companc - Matias Russo - TBA
97 // BMS Scuderia Italia // Porsche 997 GT3 RSR // Matteo Malucelli - TBA - TBA

RESERVE GT
88 // Team Felbermayr-Proton // Porsche 997 GT3 RSR // Marc Lieb - Richard Lietz - TBA
91 // Hong Kong Racing // Aston Martin Vantage GT2 // Philip Ma - Marchy Lee - Christian Jones
95 // AF Corse // Ferrari F430 GT2 // Giancarlo Fisichella - Joe Foster - TBA
60 // Matech Competition // Ford GT // Thomas Mutsch - TBA - TBA
86 // Spyker Squadron // Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R // Tom Coronel - TBA - TBA

I DO BELIEVE CORVETTE WILL DOMINATE THE GT2 THIS YEAR

[roost89]

I was looking forward to watching this on Eurosport, but then had to get rid of most of the channels, Sky was too expensive...gah!
So it'll be Radio le Mans and some pics.

Corvette's in GT2 will be dominant, sadly. I hope the BMW's will give them a run for their money, as well as the Jaguar team!
Also pleased to see Highcroft, might get some cool videos from them on Youtube.

Quite like to see how the battle between the Audi and Peugeot cars will go, maybe Aston give them a bit of a push or will the Diesels be too far ahead still?

Is Young driver AMR a "factory" team?

[RacingManiac]

I don't think the Vette will dominate, the GT2 category is too competitive for that....

I actually like the new Audi livery, something less Germanic for a change...

[vyselegend]

That's very sad news, indeed. On the 2008 24 hours it was clear that the S102 had a lot of potential, but was still too fresh.

Such a beautiful car too, that would somehow help heal our sore eyes from looking at Audi's new livery...

I'm also very disapointed by that Audi livery, especially since I was finding the traditional one georgeous.

But in this domain I'm a conservative person, and so I might not do justice to any paint scheme if it's too original. For instance it took me maybe half a year to get accustomed to Oreca's Mondrian livery (the first one in 2008), but from the point I accepted it I couldn't get back then, and still think it looks great now (on the Oreca01). So who knows, maybe comming june I'll be fond of this poor patchwork from Ingolstadt...

The worst part I think is the added red stripe on the left of the left nose cone/crash structure, it would be far better if the black part made junction with the silver one, without that badly pasted red stripe IMO.

Then again, I've been disapointed also by the adaptation of the mondrian livery on the 908. I remember people making a better job for that interpretation in the Forza motorsport 3 videogame...
I guess it's because of the chrome... Too much chrome, it just doesn't fit with the concept!





A shame, when for the first time in four years Peugeot managed a very neat paintscheme for their works car...

[dumrick]

I guess it's because of the chrome... Too much chrome, it just doesn't fit with the concept!

With the regulations concerning the A/C in the closed cars and the temperature limit, chrome or white are the colours of choice around the cockpit...

[Pandamasque]

I think Audi just looked at the deep blue factory Pugs et le 908 multicouleur de Oreca they were afraid of turning up with the most boring livery on the grid